All three of my children have been breastfed exclusively up until around 5 months. At this point I started offering rice Cubes of Pureed Food cereal, which was mostly breast-milk with a little rice cereal mixed in for texture. None of them were crazy about it and I only fed them a little here and there when I was in the mood. Rice cereal has very little nutritional value and I didn't want to fill them up on empty calories so I found that I rarely felt like it was worth cleaning up the inevitable mess created when they spit out it anyway. Once Lauren, our first who is now seven, was old enough to start trying fruits and vegetables, I decided that I wanted to try my hand at making my own baby food. While perusing a popular parenting magazine, I came across an article about preparing and freezing individual portions of homemade baby food in an ice cube tray and it looked easy. I bought fresh organic produce--apples, broccoli, spinach, pears, bananas or sweet potato and cooked and pureed them in my blender. Then I spooned the food into an ice cube tray, wrapped them in a plastic freezer bag to prevent freezer burn and then froze them. I loved that I could take the cubes of food out to thaw individually as I needed them. I also loved feeding our children fresh organic food and that I knew exactly what was in it. Sure there was some work involved in the preparation but it was well worth the effort. I'm glad I did it and I recommend trying it if you have a baby who is ready to start eating solids. It's so easy, it saves money and best of all, you don't have any glass jars to recycle or tote around. You can easily thaw and bring the food in a plastic baby bowl with a lid. At seven, four and almost two, my child have a wide variety of preferences for food. Lauren will eat broccoli but won't eat a blueberry to save her life. She also likes things like spinach salad with goat cheese drizzled with vinaigrette. Kate loves fruit and veggies but won't eat pasta. Cooper on the other hand, loves both fruit and pasta but won't touch meat or vegetables. It's tough to find one meal that will fill everyone's belly. I often find myself longing for the days when breastmilk and pureed baby food were all they needed. Do you make your own baby food and if so, how do you do it? Do you use your regular blender or one made especially for babyfood? Please share any recipes that your baby loves because if you are like me, you might sometimes get stuck in a "babyfood rut" and end up feeling like you are feeding your child the same favorites over and over. Happy Feeding!
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Babies do not need baby food for that long. Once they get the hang of getting it in their mouths and swallowing, you can give them small chunks of soft things like potatoes, bananas, green beans, peas, and cooked carrots. Just mash or chop whatever you made for the rest of the family that is soft enough for them to eat. It doesn’t have to be a lot of work.
We do a mix of home-made baby food and baby-led weening. Most of the time I just throw a bit of what ever we are eating on her tray and call it a day :) it’s so cute watching her try to eat!!!
I make our little guy’s food, but more and more he’s sharing what we eat. For those out there who think they need special gadgets to make food, don’t waste your money! I use a regular steam basket, a mini food processor, and a mini muffin pan — all of which we already owned — so easy!
We have been making baby food since my youngest could eat. We do the freeze method and it is so easy and saves so much time. It makes it so much easier to make it homemade and I love knowing what they are eating.
We’ll be starting this very soon. Baby girl is giving us lots of clues that she’s ready for more food!
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